Railway coupler

ABSTRACT

An improved railway vehicle coupler structure having a housing in which the length of the front face is extended and a horizontal shelf projects therefrom at a distance from the longitudinal center line greater than the height of a knuckle but no greater than the distance at which a knuckle on an adjacent railway vehicle would fail to couple therewith. A rib extends from the extended face and projects from the housing to define a slot above the knuckle pin.

1111114 States Patent 1191 Da et a1. Dec. 17 1974 [54] RAILWAY COUPLER3,073,459 1/1963 Kulieke 213 153 3,606,032 9/1971 DePenti... 213/154 X[75] lhvehthrs: Charles Hlhsdale; Carl 3,627,145 12/1971 Altherr 213/153Edward Tack, Elmhurst, both of I11.

[73] Assignee: AMSTED Industries Incorporated, Primary Examinerlvl.Henson Wood, Jr.

g Ill. Assistant ExaminerGene A. Church [22] Filed: Dec. 10, 1973 21Appl. No.: 424,346 [57] ABSTRACT An improved railway vehicle couplerstructure having 52 us. c1. 213/100 R 213/154 husihg in which the lengthof face is 51 1111. 661 3/04 ended and a horizontal Shelf Pml'ectstherefrom at a 58 Field of Search 213/150-154 distance the longitudinalCenter greater than 15 R 100 the height of a knuckle but no greater thanthe distance at which a knuckle on an adjacent railway vehi- 56]References Cited cle would fail to couple therewith. A rib extends fromUNITED STATES PATENTS the extended face and projects from the housing todefine a slot above the knuckle pin. 1,874,653 8/1932 Tatum 213/1532,881,927 4/1959 Furniss 213/151 7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTE 35C1 7 I974 SHEET 10F 2 RAILWAY COUPLER BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to railway couplers and moreparticularly to an improved coupler structure which minimizes lateraland vertical passed couplers during coupling.

Coupling of railway vehicles along curved trackage and under conditionswherein the ends of cars to be coupled are at different elevationsfrequently results in lateral and/or vertical passing of the couplers tobe coupled. This passing of couplers is undersirable because it maycause damage to the couplers or to the adjacent cars to be coupled.

By the present invention it is proposed to provide a coupler whichminimizes the passing of couplers. This is accomplished generally by theprovision on a coupler housing of horizontal shelf means verticallyspaced from the longitudinal axis of the housing at a distancesubstantially greater than the height of the coupler knuckle but notgreater than the distance at which a knuckle of another vehicle restingon the shelf means would fail to couple with the knuckle.

A feature of the invention is the provision of an upstanding ribprojecting outwardly of the housing and about the knuckle pin opening toinhibit twist-out of the knuckle under derailment inducing conditions.

Further features will hereinafter appear.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a couplerincorporating the structure of the present invention and showing afragmentary top plan view of a similar coupler located to show theextent of lateral gathering achieved by the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the coupler.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the coupler.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view similar to FIG. 3 but showing anothercoupler in cross section located to illustrate the lower level ofvertical gathering of the cou pler.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,there is illustrated a coupler embodying the improved structure of thepresent invention. The coupler 10 comprises generally a coupler housing11 and a shank 12 which is adapted to be mounted in the usual draft gear(not shown) on the end of the center sill of a railway vehicle.

The coupler housing 11 includes a knuckle side 13 and a guard arm side14. A lock-lift assembly 15 is mounted on the housing to release aknuckle 16 from its closed position. The knuckle 16 is pivotally mountedfor movement between the closed position and an open position by meansof a knuckle pin 17 which is inserted in pivot pin openings 18 of pivotlugs 19.

A front face 20 extends between pivot lug l9 and a guard arm 21 on theguard arm side 14. The front face 20 is recessed inwardly of the pivotlug l9 and a guard arm nose 22 in the conventional manner.

In accordance with the present invention the front face 20 is providedwith a web extension 23 which extends beyond the horizontal place XXcontaining the outer face of the pivot lug 19. A horizontal shelf 24integral with the front face web extension 23 projects outwardly betweenthe guard arm side 14 and the knuckle side 13. As shown, a front faceweb extension 23 and an integral horizontal shelf 24 is provided on boththe upper and underside of the housing. It should be understood,however, that only a single front face web extension 23 and projectingshelf 24 may be used. The front face extension 23 and projecting shelf24 may be either on the upper or underside of the housing 1 l.

A guard arm extension 26 extends from the guard arm 21 and is inapproximate horizontal alignment with the respective shelves 24-24. Theguard arm extension 26 includes extension guard arm faces 27 extendingfrom an extension guard arm nose 28 and merging with a guard arm face 29of the guard arm 21. In the embodiment shown, the extension guard arms26 are vertically spaced and the extension guard arm faces 27 and theguard arm faces 29 are inclined relatively to each other and provide acontinuous and smooth face which merges with the front face 20 in theusual manner. In this connection it is to be noted that the shelves24-24 project over the guard arm face 29 so as to vertically limit thegathering range of a coupler knuckle of an adjacent railway car.Moreover, the guard arm faces 29 are inclined to provide a guidingsurface which is engageable with the pivot lugs 19 to permit an openknuckle to clear the guard arm nose 22 of a mating coupler. This assuresthat the open knuckle remains open until it is in coupling relationshipwith a closed knuckle.

A rib 31 projects from the housing 11 over the lug 19 and is formed as acontinuation of the front face web extension 23. The rib 31 partiallyencircles the pivot pin openings 18 and provides a generally U-shapedslot 37 through which the knuckle pin 17 may be inserted into the pivotpin openings 18. The rib 31 serves to inhibit twist-out of the knuckle16 during derailment conditions by strengthening this area of thehousing.

In operation, assume conditions wherein a coupler 33 on a car with whichthe coupler 10 of the present invention is laterally displaced, as shownin FIG. 1, and vertically displaced, as shown in FIG. 4, relataive to amating coupler 33. As shown in FIG. 1, it is readily apparent that theguard arm extension faces 27 on the guard arm exentions 26 are operativeto laterally gather and guide the coupler 33 toward the knuckle 16 at awider range than has been possible heretofore. The guiding surface 27assures that the open knucke 34 clears the guard arm nose 22 and remainsopen until the knuckles 34 and 16 are in coupled relationship as shownin FIG. 4. At the same time, the lower shelf 24 is operative to guideand retain the knucke 34 of the coupler 33 in position for coupling withthe knuckle 16 of the coupler 10.

It should be understood that the arrangement discribed above constitutesthe preferred embodiment and that many adaptions and modifications maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway vehicle coupler having a coupler housing including aknuckle side, a guard arm having a guard arm nose, and a guard arm faceextending from said nose, :1 front face extending between said knuckleside and said guard arm, and a knuckle mounted on said knuckle side; theimprovement comprising horizontal shelf means projecting beyond saidfront face and vertically spaced from the longitudinal center line ofsaid coupler and extending between said knuckle side and said guard arm,said horizontal shelf means being spaced from the longitudinal centerline of said housing a distance at least as great as the height of saidknuckle but not greater than the distance at which said knuckle wouldfail to couple with another coupler resting on said shelf means.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein front face extension webmeans extends to said shelf means.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said guard arm includesgaurd arm extention means disposed at substantially the samelevelas saidshelf means and having an extension guard arm nose at the terminal endthereof spaced longitudinally outwardly from said guard arm nose.

4. The invention as defined in claim 3 wherein said guard arm extensionmeans is inclined at an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis ofsaid coupler housing and includes an extension guard arm face extendingfrom said extension guard arm nose to said guard arm face.

ing and includes a guard arm extension guiding face extending from saidextension guard arm nose and which merges with said guard arm face andis arranged to provide a guiding surface for maintaining an open knuckleof a mating coupler clear of said guard arm nose.

7. The invention as defined in claim 6 wherein rib means projects fromsaid housing along the knuckle side of said front face extension web,said rib means defining a generally U-shaped slot above the knuckle pinabout which the knuckle is turnable.

1. In a railway vehicle coupler having a coupler housing including aknuckle side, a guard arm having a guard arm nose, and a guard arm faceextending from said nose, a front face extending between said knuckleside and said guard arm, and a knuckle mounted on said knuckle side; theimprovement comprising horizontal shelf means projecting beyond saidfront face and vertically spaced from the longitudinal center line ofsaid coupler and extending between said knuckle side and said guard arm,said horizontal shelf means being spaced from the longitudinal centerline of said housing a distance at least as great as the height of saidknuckle but not greater than the distance at which said knuckle wouldfail to couple with another coupler resting on said shelf means.
 2. Theinvention as defined in claim 1 wherein front face extension web meansextends to said shelf means.
 3. The inventioN as defined in claim 1wherein said guard arm includes gaurd arm extention means disposed atsubstantially the same level as said shelf means and having an extensionguard arm nose at the terminal end thereof spaced longitudinallyoutwardly from said guard arm nose.
 4. The invention as defined in claim3 wherein said guard arm extension means is inclined at an acute anglerelative to the longitudinal axis of said coupler housing and includesan extension guard arm face extending from said extension guard arm noseto said guard arm face.
 5. The invention as defined in claim 2 wherein arib means projecting from said housing is provided along the knuckleside of said front face extension web means, said rib means defining agenerally U-shaped slot above the knucke pin about which the knucke isturnable.
 6. The invention as defined in claim 3 wherein said guard armextension means is inclined at an acute angle relataive to thelongitudinal axis of said coupler housing and includes a guard armextension guiding face extending from said extension guard arm nose andwhich merges with said guard arm face and is arranged to provide aguiding surface for maintaining an open knuckle of a mating couplerclear of said guard arm nose.
 7. The invention as defined in claim 6wherein rib means projects from said housing along the knuckle side ofsaid front face extension web, said rib means defining a generallyU-shaped slot above the knuckle pin about which the knuckle is turnable.